The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1178918
70 THE WOLVERINE NOVEMBER 2019 WHERE ARE THEY NOW? performance by quarterback Vince Young. The Wolverines did win the Big Ten championship, of course. They haven't since, a fact stun- ning to many, including Riley. "It hurts to hear you say that, to be honest with you," he of- fered. "The expectation is there every year at Michigan. With the tradition and the prestige, the caliber of athlete you are able to attract, you don't think you're ever going to deal with situa- tions of rebuilding, revamping or restructuring. Riley moved to right tackle as a redshirt junior, amid an ava- lanche of injuries — All-Amer- ican offensive tackle Jake Long and Hart among them — in a 7-5 campaign. The Wolverines lost five games by seven or fewer points, and dove into the offsea- son determined to change the script in 2006. "They were close games that we just weren't closing out," Riley confirmed. "I was talking to [line- backer] David Harris at his home after the Rutgers game, and he said, 'Man, the thing about that 7-5 season was, we just didn't know how to finish.'" Everything about the preparation for Riley's fifth year involved fin- ishing. For a bit, Riley thought U-M strength and conditioning coach Mike Gittleson might finish them. "I remember Mike Gittleson ab- solutely giving us hell in the offsea- son," Riley said. "He gave us every- thing he thought we needed to never go 7-5 again." He also gave them enough to pummel Notre Dame 47-21 in South Bend, announcing their legitimacy in the national title race. Two days earlier, Riley lost an aunt with whom he was close, months after his grand- mother — "my superhero," he called her — passed. Head coach Lloyd Carr frowned on anything smacking of individualism, but gave special dispensation for Ri- ley's arm band with their names on it. The Wolverines just kept winning, rolling over MSU 31-13 and taking a 11-0 record into a No. 1 versus No. 2 battle against top-ranked Ohio State in Columbus. Riley will never forget a team meeting two days prior to the game, when Bo Schembechler — whom the players knew wasn't well — entered the room to thunderous cheers. "Bo tells us some very, very inspi- rational things," Riley noted. "Then he gets a little personal. I wish we could have played right after that speech. I wish we could have played right after we heard what Bo had to tell us. "The hairs on our necks were standing up. I remember him saying, 'I might be here against doctors' orders … but what do they know? If I go out like this, this is how I want to go out.'" "That's what made it special. That's what made it real. That's what made your sacrifice as a Michigan football player worth it. You know what those that came before you put into the game. It made your sacrifice even more meaningful, even more purposeful." Schembechler did go out, the very next day. A U-M squad that desperately wanted to win for him and for Michigan came up just short, 42-39. Riley was signed and cut by Carolina, Miami, Washington and the New York Giants of the NFL, before dislocating his knee in a game with the Hartford Co- lonials of the United Football League in 2010. That prompted him to give up football for a job at the Kent County Detention Center in western Michigan. He went on to try sales, before tak- ing up coaching and working with kids in schools, first at Grand Rapids University Prep, then Wyoming and now at Grand Rapids Christian. Slapped with humbleness in Ann Arbor, Riley worked his way to ma- turity. He carries that — and a pair of Big Ten championship rings — to this day. ❏ The Rueben Riley File Michigan Accomplishments: Contributed on Big Ten title teams in 2003 and 2004 … Became a three-year starter on the offensive line, first at guard and his last two years at tackle. Professional Accomplishments: Signed NFL contracts with four franchises in the NFL and one in the UFL, in a pro career that went from 2007-10 … Has worked in education the past eight years, as a student advocate and Dean of Students, while coaching football. Michigan Memory: "What sticks out to me the most about everything that has happened to me as a young man into my full adulthood goes back to when Coach [Lloyd] Carr sat in my living room my senior year, at Grand Rapids Creston High School. He said, 'We want you at Michigan, because you're a Michigan Man.' "I was unbelievably joyous and unbelievably honored that Coach Carr wanted me to be a Michigan Wolverine, and for him to tell me that I was a Michigan Man. But I had no clue what a Michigan Man was and what it absolutely took to be a Michigan Man, and the trials and tribulations and successes and failures that I would face as a Michigan Man, and that it would get me through. "Now, sitting back at 35 years old, I understand what Coach Carr meant about being a Michigan Man." Education: Earned a bachelor's degree in general studies in 2007. Family: Married to Shanel Rousseau-Riley. The two have an 8-year-old daugh- ter, Brooklyn, and a 7-year-old son, Harlem. Riley serves as the student life coordinator at Grand Rapids Christian Middle School, and is also the offensive line coach and assistant head coach for GRC's varsity football team. PHOTO COURTESY RUEBEN RILEY